The Labor enquirer., 1887-10-29

Be laid to the charge Of some one
who aweek before carelessly ythrew
a Daily 7bi1xs< on the sidewalk
in front of the Grand Pacific hotel.
It is almost an exact copy Of the
laws once in existence against
anti-slavery speeches and writings,
and the similarity is broken only
by the greater severity of the
Merritt bill; for the masters of
black slaves merely punished the
speech of the book. or the maga-
zine essay as an. offense in itself,
SO the culprit knew in advance
what penalty he was incurring,
while the masters of the white
slave make the speaker or writer
in his defense, while guilty Of no
offense in the act itself, liable to
conviction for any crime to which
evaporation may drive any man
anywhere at any time. A speech
against the present lovely order of
things once made, the speaker is
henceforth guilty of every crime,
from disorderly conduct to trea-
son, that any poor man may ever
commit, and no repentance nor
retraction can avail. Of course,
no sane man doubts the object of
this enactment. Its sole purpose
is to give the Chicago conspira-
tors, aided by their coached judges
and packed juries and vulgar, vi
Imperative, crown" lawyer, to
hang every man or woman whom
God has gifted with that fatal gift
of genius-a keen perception of
and audacious devotion to truth,
which finds ever ready response
in natural hearts whenever the
voice that bears its message can
be heard. II needs but a murder
committed by somebody to hang
any agitator the masters may
choose to doom. 1t looks very
serious to you. does it not3 Free
speech is destroyed, you think7
Not so, my friends. We can laugh
at their Merritt bill and their
whole contrivance. Is there a
public place in Chicago where
public meetings are held for other
purposes as of common right7
If so, we must hold meetings there.
"The police will interfere" you
say7 No; we shall have our
meeting guarded by federal troops
from the garrison our foes have
provided. What do ! meanl l
mean precisely what ! say-that
we can have. federal troops to
guard us while we hold meetings,
and to eternally eat up any police
man that dares come near rs.
You are but fools if you submit to
such things as you do. Let me
explain. The federal constitution
provides that "the United States
shall guarantee to each state a re-
publican form of government" /"
The supreme court of the nation
has repeatedly declared that free
speech, absolutely free speech,
with a view to educating public
opinion, is one of the chief attri-
butes of a republican government,
and the right of the people to
bear arms in order to be able to
resist the usurpation of those in
authority. and to thus make pub
lie opinion dangerous enough to
be needed, is another of its attri-
butes, Indeed, it is easy to de-
duce from the decisions of that
court complete authority for Lord
Hollands idea of a free govern
ment, which Macaulay quotes with
approval. H
I'VE are" says he, well aware
that the privileges of the people,
the rights of free discussion, and
the spirit and letter Of our popular
institutions must render, and they
are intended to render, the contin-
uance of an extensive grievance,
and the dissatisfaction consequent
thereupon, dangerous to the tram
guilty of the country, and. ulti-